Local Kubernetes Cluster

Learn how to inspect a locally created Kubernetes cluster.

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To work with Helm we need to have a Kubernetes cluster sandbox first. In most lessons in this course, a cluster was already prepared so we could focus on learning Helm. This one will teach us how to create and inspect a cluster locally.

Create a cluster locally#

Before creating a cluster, we need to have Docker Desktop running. Start the Docker Desktop application (if it hasn’t already been started) and then execute the following command after opening a new terminal window:

Command to create a cluster locally

Note: For Windows and macOS users, before running kind commands, make sure that the Docker Desktop application has been started as a Kubernetes cluster will be bootstrapped in a Docker container.

View a cluster locally#

Apart from using the kubectl command to investigate what’s inside the cluster we can also use VS Code and its extensions. By installing a Kubernetes extension for the VS Code we can get full insight into the cluster.

It allows us to visualize and categorize Kubernetes resources into smaller groups making it easier to navigate.

Kubernetes resources list
Kubernetes resources list

It not only lists all the Kubernetes resources, it also allows us to take a closer look into a resource.

Logs from a Pod visualized in VS Code
Logs from a Pod visualized in VS Code

Moreover, we can use it to check the logs of an application as demonstrated in the image below:

Logs from a pod visualized in VS Code
Logs from a pod visualized in VS Code

If you don’t like this tool either, that’s not a problem because there are many other tools that can help us get insight from a cluster.

Installing VS Code and Extensions

Install Applications with Helmfile